


Waiting

by literaryoblivion



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Episode: s03e01 Tattoo, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-04
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-13 22:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/829659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryoblivion/pseuds/literaryoblivion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Scott? Hey, Scott, buddy?” Stiles shakes Scott’s shoulders, but there is no response.</p><p>“He’ll probably be passed out for a few minutes. It’s very painful,” says Derek as he turns the torch off and sets the fuel tank on the ground beside him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting

“Scott? Hey, Scott, buddy?” Stiles shakes Scott’s shoulders, but there is no response.

“He’ll probably be passed out for a few minutes. It’s _very_ painful,” says Derek as he turns the torch off and sets the fuel tank on the ground beside him.

“And it’ll stay now?” Stiles asks as he leans in a little closer to Scott’s arm to admire the bands surrounding it.

“Yes.”

Stiles does one more check of Scott, yup still out, and walks closer to Derek. Then he stands for a moment, debating on whether to keep standing or to sit on the soot covered ground.

“Here,” Derek says, scooting over a little on the makeshift bench he’s sitting on to make room for Stiles.

“Thanks,” Stiles mutters as he accepts the offered seat next to Derek, their knees bumping against each other when he sits. “So, did you uh have someone?”

Derek looks over at him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Someone?”

“To hold you down? While you, you know…” Stiles juts his chin up, indicating the propane tank on the ground.

Derek drops his eyes down to the tanks and then back up to Stiles. “Yeah, well, no, not really.”

“Not really? Did you not need someone to do it? Strong enough to handle it yourself? Or you just needed someone to hold your hand and pet your hair?”

Stiles is expecting a mean look full of broody eyebrows and bitchy-ness, but instead Derek chuckles. “Something like that,” he says. 

Shocked, Stiles is trying hard not let his jaw drop at this change in Derek. Clearly the summer was good for him, even though most of it was spent looking for Erica and Boyd. But maybe he was able to squeeze a little R&R in there with the searching. And Stiles would never admit this to anyone, but he’s kind of missed Derek. This new found calm and smile looks really good on him, too.

“How’d you learn about that working on tattoos? Some kind of werewolf guidebook?”

“You do remember I was _born_ into a family of werewolves, don’t you?”

“Ah so family story time. Okay.”

Derek rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Stiles might be a little glad that Derek’s sassiness is still there and that Stiles can still poke him a little to get him to react in a little exasperation.

“So did someone in your family do it for you then? Do what you did for Scott?” Stiles almost immediately regrets asking Derek about his family because he’s gathered Derek doesn’t really talk about his past, but he’s the one that brought up his family of werewolves first.

“My sister Laura. I got it after. After the fire. We both did.” Derek’s eyes dart around him, as if just now remembering he’s sitting there in his burned home. Stiles thinks it must be an odd feeling, talking about his past, his family, the fire, while he’s sitting there in the middle of it, the smokey-charred smell still pungent in the air. 

Derek stands up, seemingly to check on Isaac, but he doesn’t move more than a few feet away from Stiles, still not close enough to see Isaac. Stiles stands up too, not sure whether to say sorry for asking, or give him a hug, which probably wouldn’t be the wisest choice. So he does neither. But he does walk closer to stand next to Derek, their shoulders brushing briefly, a comforting enough gesture to Derek as Stiles can see some of the tension leave his back. 

Stiles wants to ask what the triskele means to Derek, if it’s something more than just a way to remember his family, if there was a reason he got it on his back, but Scott wakes up before he can formulate a question.

So he pushes them to the back of his mind, thinking he’ll ask them of Derek someday when Derek’s more ready to answer them and when Stiles will feel less guilty for asking them because he knows the pain it’ll cause. But not today, or any time soon, apparently because it looks like they’ve got more supernatural werewolf problems to deal with again. Not today then, but… someday.

**Author's Note:**

> Because I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to know what Derek and Stiles did while Scott was passed out unconscious. So here's a possibility for ya. :)
> 
> Come say hello and cry with me over Teen Wolf on [my tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com/)


End file.
